Chapter Nineteen:

A/N: Okay, well I wanted to write, and Cara told me to write this one, so I am. Hah. I ate too much lately and now I feel sick. Ugh. Stupid food. Well, here we go!

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"Eric," Calleigh called. He was standing just over a meter away, but the wind was so loud at the top of the mountain that she could barley hear her own voice. But, somehow he heard her and turned to face her.

"What's up?" He called back, inching closer to her so their conversation would be easier heard.

"I don't know if I can do this." She bit her lip, looking terrified.

"It's really not as far up as it looks." Eric tried to make her feel better.

"Eric! It's huge!" She cried.

"Cal, I know you can do this!" He reassured her. "I mean, you survived the lift…"

"Barley!" She pointed out.

"Oh, you did great!" He encouraged her.

"You're just saying that because I have to get down the mountain." Calleigh pouted.

"Well, you do have to get down the mountain, but I'm not just saying that, I promise. Besides, this is no different from the little hill, it's just like a bunch of little hills in a row, and you dominated those." Eric tried to get her to look at it a different way.

"Eric, the incline is much steeper here than on the little hill." She pointed out. Damn, he was hoping she wouldn't notice that.

"Wait, watch this." He told her, and she made a sound of protest as she saw he was heading down the mountain. He was leaving her up here by herself? What was she going to do? But as she watched him make on perfect parallel turn, then another, suddenly he wiped out completely.

"Eric!" She called, "Are you okay?" She knew he was sort of okay, at least, as she saw his figure moving around underneath the mound of snow. Suddenly he stood up, picked his skis up and climbed back the short distance he had traveled.

"See? You can't wipe out any worse than that, and it didn't even hurt." He smiled at her. She was touched. He just went and embarrassed himself, got himself wet, and probably a bit sore just to prove to her she could fall without dying on this mountain.

"Oh, okay." She resolved. Taking a deep breath, she just wanted to shut her eyes and be back in the lodge but she knew she had to do this.

"You go first," Eric prompted her. "I'll be right behind you. Just remember to keep your snow plough."

"Yes Mr. Delko." She teased. Slowly, she inched up her skis until she couldn't shift her weight without plunging downwards towards the bottom of the mountain. Too bad there were so many trees in the way.

"You can do it," He encouraged her. That was all it took, she shut her eyes for a second as she shifted forward, her skis effectively going over the edge and down the rather steep incline of the mountain. Letting out of a squeal of surprise at the steepness, she fought to gain control of her skis, and her body.

"Snow plough, snow plough," She muttered to herself as she turned her skis so they made the triangle like shape. Leaning forward slightly on her skis, she was able to regain her balance, and turn her hips back and forth so she didn't straight line the entire mountain.

"You're doing great Calleigh!" She heard Eric call from behind her, and she smiled. This was actually kind of fun! She let out a squeal of delight this time as she continued to turn down the hill at a good pace. True, there were other skiers passing her left and right, but this was only her second day skiing. She was doing well, at least she thought so. Eric seemed to as well. She glanced behind her for a second to make sure Eric was still there, and he was, but when she turned back around, her eyes widened in shock.

"Eric?" She nearly screamed. "There is a large bump."

"Just turn around it." He called to her calmly.

"I can't! I can't!" She called back frantically. She didn't want to go over the large bump… it was too late. The speed she had been skiing sent her up the mound at a quick pace and before she knew it she was floating through the air. She had that feeling you get in your stomach when you're nervous, or going to high on a swing set, or on a roller coaster perhaps. She may have even enjoyed the feeling of flight if she hadn't been scared as hell of landing this. She saw another skier a bit in front of her land the jump messily and cursed silently under her breath. Eric hadn't gone off of a giant bump when he'd shown her his wipe out, now had he?

"Bend your knees a bit when you land Cal," She heard his voice instruct from somewhere below her. "Just concentrate on keeping your balance." Boom. Snow went everywhere. Calleigh's skis automatically let go of her boots and she rolled slightly away from them, spitting out snow as she went. She wasn't really hurting, but she was very, very cold. "Cal! Are you okay!" Eric called as he quickly unhooked his boots from his skis and rushed over to her side.

"Snow is cold." She moaned.

"I know, I thought you liked it," He smirked, pushing his goggles up above his eyes.

"I don't like it quite as much when it's down my back and in my gloves, and up my sleeves…" Calleigh whined.

"Owh, poor baby." Eric teased. "But really, any pain?"

"Nothing too major." Calleigh told him, sitting up. "My leg hurts a bit from where I initially landed, and my arm, but it's nothing too serious, I can tell."

"You sure?" He checked, obviously feeling guilty for making her go down the hill.

"Positive." Calleigh nodded. "If I wouldn't have landed so roughly I would have thoroughly enjoyed going over that large bump."

"Oh really?" Eric raised his eyebrows as he pushed his goggles back down, only to cover them.

"Yeah." She nodded, with a smile.

"Well, let's enjoy the rest of the trip down the hill?" He suggested.

"Sure thing." She smiled. And they did.

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A/N: So this was a REALLY pointless chapter pretty much, but it WAS a ski vacation, and they had to ski sometime haha. Sorry if it was boring. There will be some nice Eric guilt after this though, so look forward to that maybe? Well, please review! Thanks! Oh, and Christmas IS coming in it:P hah. Soon it will be Christmas in August.